


The Art of Giving

by annalyia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Awkward Keith (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, I'm really glad that's a tag, M/M, because I love shiro, this is pre-season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 15:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12135336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annalyia/pseuds/annalyia
Summary: Lance does something for Keith and Keith really wants to repay him





	The Art of Giving

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy :D

Keith shifts uncomfortably in his chair.  He’s not stupid – he’s noticed Lance’s clandestine glances whenever he thought Keith wasn’t looking.  Lance stares at Keith’s face with a sort of scrutiny that makes Keith uneasy.  If Keith didn’t know any better, he’d say that Lance was interested in him.

But that would be ridiculous. 

Pushing up her glasses, Pidge yawns.  “I’m gonna go work on the Green Lion for a bit before bed,” she says, sliding off the couch before waving goodbye to her fellow paladins. 

The conversation Lance and Hunk were carrying on trails off, leaving the room in silence once again.  Shortly after, Hunk stands and stretches, his arms raised over his head.  “Yeah, I think Pidge had a good idea with that whole going to bed thing.  G’night, guys.” 

“Night,” Lance and Keith echo. 

“And then there were two,” Lance says, a wide grin on his face.  “Are you gonna abandon me, too, Keith?”

“I wouldn’t say that me going to bed was me abandoning you,” Keith replies, his exhaustion peeking through in his tone.  “I would say it’s more like me doing a normal thing and you being okay with it.  Because it’s normal.”

Lance’s grin morphs into a pout.  “You’re no fun.”

Keith sighs.  “I don’t have time for this.”

“It’s not the only thing you don’t have time for,” Lance grumbles, crossing his arms. 

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing,” Lance says quickly.

“Lance, c’mon.  Just tell me.  If it has anything to do with how much you’ve been staring at me recently, I’d really like to know.”

“I haven’t been staring!”  The tips of Lance’s ears burn with embarrassment.

“Yes, you have,” Keith says.  “I’m a lot more perceptive than you give me credit for.”

Lance doesn’t reply.

“Just tell me.”

“Your pores are huge and your skin deserves better,” Lance says before promptly rising from the couch and leaving an open-mouthed Keith and the room behind.

\--

The next day, Keith manages to confront Lance.  He catches the Blue Paladin on the way back to his room from the pool. 

“We need to talk,” Keith says firmly, bodily putting himself between Lance and his bedroom door.

“I’m not exactly dressed for the situation,” Lance quips, gesturing to the towel around his shoulders and swim trunks on his legs.

“You’re fine, and I have a question for you.”

“Then ask away, I’m an open book.”

“You’ve been watching me for the past few days because you think that I don’t take good enough care of my skin?”

“Yes!  It’s a crime for someone who could have such good skin to neglect it the way that you do,” Lance insists. 

“Lance, we’re in the middle of space,” Keith says, like it should explain everything.

Lance stares at him blankly.  “Your point?”

“We’re fighting a war.”

“Are you trying to prove something?”

“Lance, we undergo ridiculous, hard training with our lions to become better paladins and then have to put that training to the test almost immediately.”

“So?”  Lance sighs.  “Keith, that’s _exactly_ why you should be taking better care of your skin.  You undergo a lot of stress and that’s not good on your body.  You should reward that nice bod of yours with a facial and spa treatment every once in a while, just like me.”

Ignoring the way his cheeks flush at Lance’s comment of his body, Keith sighs.  “Maybe.”

“Hey, that’s better than nothing.”

After a beat, Keith asks, “do you really want to give me a facial?”

Lance shrugs.  “It doesn’t have to be anything fancy,” he says.  “It could just be a simple face mask to give your skin a boost.”

“A boost?”

“Yeah, y’know, close up your pores and make your skin smoother.”

Keith self-consciously rubs at his face.  Lance has a point, his skin could be a lot smoother, and he guesses that his pores are big (he really doesn’t know). 

“Since I just got out of the pool,” Lance continues, pulling Keith back into reality, “I was gonna put on a face mask and then shower.  You can join me if you want.”

“I-in the shower?” Keith stammers, praying he misunderstood.

Blushing, Lance quickly says, “ew, no way, Mullet.  I meant for the face mask.”  Lance takes advantage of Keith’s embarrassment and slips past him before opening the door to his room.  “Feel free to come in.”

Keith follows Lance through the door.  Lance’s room looks pretty much the same as his – a bed in an alcove (though Lance’s sheets are blue, not red), a couple shelves, and a personal bathroom.  Lance momentarily disappears into the bathroom, returning with a tube and a couple damp washcloths. 

Keith notices that he’s ditched the towel around his shoulders and is just in his swim trunks.

Lance plops down on the tile floor, crossing his legs beneath him and patting the space across from him.  “Sit.”  He also hands Keith a headband to keep his bangs out of his face.

Keith tentatively sits opposite from Lance and then pushes his hair back.  “Okay, now what?”

“Now, you just can’t freak out.”

That makes Keith blanch more than the thought of the facemask.

Lance opens the tube and squeezes out a quarter-sized glob of this grey stuff into his palm.  He gathers some of it onto two of his fingers and reaches towards Keith.

Leaning back, Keith says, “what are you doing,” while staring incredulously at Lance and the substance on his hand.

“Oh, just come here,” Lance fusses, tilting forward to touch Keith. 

Keith moves back towards Lance, face scrunching up in anticipation. 

“Just relax, Keith,” Lance says, his voice soft. 

And so Keith does. 

However, he does start when Lance spreads the face mask on.  “It’s cold.”

“It’s supposed to be,” Lance tells him, a light laugh in his response.

Lance finishes the face mask, placing his hand under Keith’s chin and turning his face this way and that to ensure he covered Keith’s entire face.  “Now, just be sure not to move your face too much once it starts to harden,” Lance instructs as he lathers the mask on his skin. 

“Why is it grey?” Keith asks, trying to make conversation so as to keep from awkwardly sitting on Lance’s floor.

“It’s a charcoal mask,” Lance explains.  “I’m honestly really surprised that they have these in space, but I’m not complaining.”

“What’s so special about charcoal?”

“It’s really good at drawing out all the toxins and stuff that live in your pores.  It’s also not absorbed by your skin so your body doesn’t have to metabolize it and stuff.”

“You sure know a lot about this,” Keith notes.

“I used to do this a lot with my little sisters,” Lance says, shrugging off Keith’s compliment.  “They taught me most of what I know about skin care.  I keep up with it because I know, when we get back, they’d kill me if I didn’t.”  A smile ghosts Lance’s lips and Keith starts to understand just a little bit more about the Blue Paladin. 

By this point, Keith is finding it hard to use his face muscles.  “What do we do when it finishes drying?” he asks. 

“That’s what the washcloths are for.  You just wipe it off.”

Lance leans close to Keith, once again examining his face.  His blue, blue eyes wander all over Keith’s face, taking in every detail that is visible with the grey goop on his skin.  “This is pulling a lot of stuff out of your skin,” Lance says.  “That’s good.”

After a few more minutes interspersed with small talk, Lance hands Keith a damp towel.  “Just start wiping it off.”

Once his skin is clear, Keith runs his hands over his face.  He’s surprised at just how smooth and soft it is under his fingertips.  “Wow.”

“I know,” Lance says, his usual smug smirk on his face.  “Feels great, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Keith agrees, a light blush dusting his cheeks. 

“I’m gonna hop in the shower, so, uh, you should probably leave,” Lance says. 

“Oh, right, yeah,” Keith says, standing and then stretching his legs (sitting on the floor made his joints rather stiff).  “Don’t drown,” Keith tells Lance as he walks to the door.

“You ruined my plans,” Lance quips, grinning widely. 

Keith returns Lance’s grin with a soft smile before leaving. 

Back in his room, Keith rubs his face again.  He might just have to do that more often. 

\--

And so it goes.  Once a week, be it after intense training or a difficult battle against Zarkon and his forces, Keith goes over to Lance’s room for a facemask.  They talk a little bit more about Lance’s family and Keith learns that he has an older sister and a little brother in addition to the two younger sisters he mentioned before.  Lance’s peppy attitude falters whenever he mentions his parents, though.  It seems to Keith like he misses them the most. 

Keith and Lance grow closer and, honestly, Keith doesn’t know why they butt heads so often before.  Sure, they’re both competitive and Keith is aware of how much of a hothead he can be, but, at the same time, Keith feels comfortable around Lance.  The other boy has a soothing and understanding presence.  Keith knows that Lance isn’t going to judge him when he says something stupid (sure, Lance is a big enough idiot to tease anyone and everyone, but it’s always light-hearted and well-meaning). 

One day, after training, the five paladins are lounging around their usual hang out room.  Pidge is sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor, paying apt attention to Shiro’s post-training notes, while Hunk lies flat on his back, Keith sits spread out on the couch, and Lance lies on the couch opposite Keith, his legs sticking straight up in the air. 

“Keith, Lance,” Shiro says, causing the Blue and Red paladins to give him their attention.  “You two have been working really well together, recently.  I’m proud of how far the two of you have come.”

“That’s because they’ve been having weekly spa dates,” Pidge says. 

“They’re not dates, Pidge,” Keith says quickly (he hopes it’s not too quickly). 

Lance lazily turns his head and Keith’s direction and grins.  “Aw, c’mon, babe, don’t be embarrassed.”

Keith smacks his hand against his forehead.  “I’m not having this conversation right now.”

“Spa dates?” Shiro asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yeah,” Pidge continues while Hunk stifles laughter.  “Lance has been giving Keith face masks every week and it’s, for some reason, made them better friends.”

“How do you know, though?” Keith asks. 

“Keith, please.  You and Lance have been practically sprinting to see each other after every training session and battle, checking up on each other and stuff.  I’m not stupid.”

“No one’s saying that you are, Pidge,” Lance assures her.  “I’d say that Keith was just more surprised that anyone was paying attention to what the self-proclaimed loner was doing.”

“That’s the whole reason I noticed,” Pidge says.  “The loner wasn’t alone all the time anymore.”

Keith frowns, realizing that she has a good point. 

“Anyways, it just seems like Lance is doing a lot of good for Keith, recently,” she concludes. 

Lance grins and says, “yeah, you bet I am.”

“All right, all right,” Shiro says, drawing everyone’s attention.  “That’s enough on this detour; let’s get back to the matter at hand.”

Keith, on the other hand, ponders over Pidge’s last comment.  He knows that she didn’t mean that much by it, but it strikes him.  He realizes that she’s right – that _Lance_ has been doing a lot for _him_.  But he also realizes that that means he hasn’t been doing too much for Lance.

And, for some reason, that upsets him.

He doesn’t want Lance to be doing all the work.

While Keith might not have had many friends in his life, something that he’s learned from the other paladins, along with Allura and Coran, is that friendships shouldn’t be one-sided.  It shouldn’t be one person putting in all of the effort and the other person benefitting from it.

So, as Shiro continues his critique of how training went that day, Keith formulizes something that he can do for Lance. 

He doesn’t get very far.

Keith isn’t the most confident in his skills – actually, he’s not too sure what his skills are.

He hasn’t died yet, so living seems like something he’s good at.

But, Lance hasn’t died either, so that doesn’t work (besides, how do you teach someone how to live?).

After much deliberation that lasts the rest of the day, Keith is stumped.  He turns over in his bed, a frown heavy on his face. 

 _There’s nothing I can do for Lance_ , he thinks miserably. 

There’s nothing he can do for the boy who has been helping him so much recently.

Ever since he started hanging around Lance, Keith has found himself smiling and laughing more.  He’s also spent more time with Hunk and Pidge, be it watching Hunk work his magic with the green food goo, or observing Pidge and learning from her as she works on the various technological things around the castle and the lions. 

The next day, as he sits with Pidge while she types away on her computer, Keith broaches the subject.  “Hey, Pidge?”

The rapid click-clack of Pidge on her computer slows to a stop.  “What’s up?”

“What would you say that I’m good at?”

“Well, you’re better than the rest of us at hand-to-hand combat, that’s for sure.  You’re also pretty good at handling confrontations, unless your stubbornness makes it impossible for you to realize that you should just abandon the situation.  You’ve got a quick wit that I personally like a lot.  It’s pretty funny when Lance says something completely idiotic and you just _roast_ him for it.”

A corner of Keith’s mouth tugs up in amusement.  He does enjoy seeing Lance gape at a complete loss for words whenever things don’t go to the way he thought they would. 

“Why’d you ask me, though?”

“Huh?”

“Why’d you ask me what you’re good at?” Pidge clarifies.

Keith feels himself blush.  “Oh, uh, you said something yesterday that made me do some thinking,” he says. 

“I did?”

“Yeah.  When you were telling everybody about how much time Lance and I have been spending together recently, you said that he’s been doing a lot for me, and everybody agreed with you.  The way you said it made it sound like I haven’t been doing anything for him, and I don’t like that.”  Keith pauses.  “I want to be able to do something for Lance as well.”

Pidge’s brows are knit together.  “You have been, Keith,” she says softly, aware of how her words affected the Red Paladin. 

“How?”

“You’ve been giving him someone to talk to.”

Keith frowns.  He hadn’t thought of it that way.  “I guess,” he concedes.

“It’s not something you guess about, Keith,” Pidge says, her annoyance showing.  “Trust me when I say that these weekly spa dates have been as good for Lance’s morale as they have been for your skin.  You’ve allowed him to go on and on about his family.  Lance misses his family more than anything else on Earth, something that I understand.  Talking to you about the people he misses the most makes it hurt a little less than usual.”

Keith nods.  “I…I think I get that, Pidge,” he says.  “Do you know where Hunk is?”

The Green Paladin shrugs.  “He’s probably somewhere in the castle.”

“Good to know that you’re mostly sure he hasn’t launched himself into space,” Keith replies as he turns to go.

“It’s what I’m here for,” Pidge says with a wicked grin. 

As he wanders the castle halls looking for Hunk, Keith is forced to acknowledge why he so badly wants to do something nice for Lance. 

For the boy with eyes as blue as the sky and skin that has been lovingly kissed by the sun, with freckles across his nose that crinkles every time he laughs. 

Keith comes to a complete stop at that. 

When did he start thinking like that?

Like Lance was someone beautiful who Keith would spend so much time trying to impress.

Keith swallows the lump in his throat and tries not to think about it too hard.

He’ll have time for that later.

“Keith?  Is everything quite all right?”

Keith is pulled back to reality at Allura’s question.  The princess is standing in front of him, concern on her face.  “Keith?”

“Yeah, princess, I’m fine.  Do you know where Hunk is?”

“I believe I saw him in the kitchens last.  I think he’s trying to bake something,” Allura says.

“Thank you!” Keith says before taking off at a run towards the kitchens, leaving a confused Allura in his wake.

When he arrives, Keith stops in the doorway, breathing heavily.

“Uh, you okay there, buddy?” Hunk asks as he watches Keith’s chest rise and fall.  The bigger guy puts his sheet pan in the oven and takes off his oven mitts. 

“Whaslancesfavorithing?”  Keith huffs out this question in one breath, not bothering to annunciate his words.

“Yeah, I-I’m gonna need you to repeat that.”

“What’s Lance’s favorite thing?” Keith asks again. 

“Like, when we were back home or here in space?”

“Back home,” Keith answers immediately.  He’s sure that he wants to get Lance something that reminds him of home. 

“Well, he’s from Cuba, originally.  He used to tell me about all of the times that he and his family would go to the beach together.  His younger brother really liked surfing, but Lance liked bodyboarding a lot better.  Something about being lazy and not wanting to stand up.  But, yeah, that was probably the thing he missed most when we were at the Garrison.  Does that help?”

Keith grins widely.  “Yeah, that’s perfect.  But I’m gonna need your and Pidge’s help with this.”

“Just tell us what you need, bud.”

\--

It takes a little bit of time, along with lots and lots of sneaking behind Lance’s back (Keith is infinitely grateful to Shiro and Coran and Allura and how willing they are to distract Lance at a moment’s notice), but, finally, Keith is pleased with the end result.  With a whole lot of help from Hunk and Pidge, Keith has managed to transform the pool into a beach that will hopefully impress Lance.  There is a section of the room leading up to the water that’s been covered in sand to act as a shore.  While they were out on a supply run, Pidge and Coran picked up some shells and a few other things to really make the place seem like the ocean.  Hunk managed to figure out how to make the lights in the room imitate the sun back on Earth. 

It’s not a real beach, but it sure is close enough. 

“He’s gonna love it, Keith,” Hunk reassures the Red Paladin, patting his shoulder with a heavy hand.  “You did a really good job.”

“Hunk’s right!  Now, go and get Lance.  Don’t worry, the rest of us will be long gone by the time you get back.”

“Thanks, guys,” Keith says, a satisfied smile on his lips.  “I mean it.”

“Of course!  Lance is just as much our friend as yours, so we don’t mind helping,” Pidge says.

The three part ways, Hunk and Pidge going to different parts of the castle and Keith to his room.  After quickly changing into his red swim trunks and grabbing a towel, Keith knocks on Lance’s door. 

“What’s up?” Lance asks as he opens the door.

“Wanna go swimming together?”

“Right now?”

“Yeah!  Go put your swim trunks on and meet me back out here.  I’m not taking no for an answer.”

A puzzled look on his face, Lance closes his door and reappears a few minutes later, clad in his blue swim trunks and a towel around his neck.  “Why the sudden interest in swimming?” Lance asks as they travel down the hallway to the elevator. 

Keith shrugs, trying to seem noncommittal.  “I know you like it, so I figured I’d give it a try with you.”

Lance nudges Keith with his elbow, raising his eyebrows.  “You trying to make up reasons so spend time with me, Mullet?  Keep this up and I’m gonna accuse you of going soft.”

Keith blushes.  “Definitely not.”

“Mhm, I’m sure,” Lance says, grinning. 

“Shove it,” Keith replies. 

Finally, they reach the floor with the pool.  Keith is buzzing with nervous energy as he and Lance walk down the hall, holding a conversation that Keith is most definitely not paying attention to.

Lance’s sentence trails to a stop the second the door opens.  Turning to Keith, his expression a mixture of confusion and wonder, he says, “wh…what is this?”  He stares in awe at the transformed room.

Without really thinking about it, Keith takes a hold of Lance’s hand—Lance grips Keith’s hand tightly—and leads him into the room. 

“You’ve been doing a lot for me recently,” Keith explains as he leads Lance to the sand.  He keeps his hand in Lance’s as he tries to spread out his towel to sit.  “And so I wanted to do something in return.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ve hung out with me and made my skin feel a lot better than it used to.  Thanks to you, I’ve also been spending more time with Hunk and Pidge, and I’m really thankful for that.”  He pauses.  “When we’ve been talking, you’ve mentioned your family a lot.  I-I asked Hunk what your favorite thing from home was, and he told me the beach.  He said that you absolutely loved going to the beach with your parents and siblings back home, and I really wanted to recreate that happiness for you, so you could understand the happiness you’ve given me.”

Lance has redirected his awe at Keith.  There’s a softness on the Blue Paladin’s face, in his blue, blue eyes that makes Keith’s chest swell. 

Without, once again, really thinking about it, Keith leans in and presses his lips against Lance’s.  He very quickly—almost immediately—realizes that that is _not_ something he should be doing and pulls away.

Why did he do that?

He tries not to think about how soft Lance’s lips were, how good they felt against his own. 

“I-I’m sorry,” Keith stammers.  “I shouldn’t have kissed you, that was totally not okay because I didn’t mmph—” the rest of his sentence is cut short by Lance bringing his mouth to Keith’s. 

Keith smiles into the kiss, while Lance huffs out a laugh before pulling back and pressing his forehead against Keith’s.  “There’s no need to apologize, Keith,” Lance whispers, his lips brushing Keith’s as he forms his words.  “I’m obviously not mad that you kissed me.”

“But I didn’t ask you and it was kind of a surprise,” Keith protests, his cheeks reddening.

“Yeah, but I totally just kissed you back, so it was definitely okay.  Now, stop worrying about it and just kiss me again,” Lance says.

So Keith does.

He savors the way Lance tastes, the way that his smooth lips feel.  He’s actually upset that he didn’t do this earlier.  Kissing Lance just feels so good, so right.  Lance’s hand moves to Keith’s back and—god—Keith loves the feel of Lance’s skin on his own. 

Kissing Lance takes a weight off Keith’s shoulders that he didn’t know existed.  He is lighter and happier than he has been in months (years?). 

Eventually, though, Keith stops the kiss.  “Wait,” he says.

“I don’t wanna,” Lance replies, lips searching for Keith’s. 

“Lance, wait just a second,” Keith says with a laugh.  “I haven’t gotten to show you everything yet.  I didn’t have everyone help me make this room just so we could kiss in it.  C’mon.”

Keith stands up and grabs Lance’s hand, hoisting the other boy up off the ground.  He explains that they’re standing on real sand (maybe not real _Earth_ sand, but it’s close enough) and that the shells are from various planets around the galaxy they’re currently in.  He talks about how Hunk figured out how to finagle the lights to act like the sun, and how they got the pool to have waves like the ocean. 

“Is that a body board?” Lance exclaims, dropping Keith’s hand and running to the water.  He immediately throws himself and the board into the water.  Keith instead chooses to sit at the edge of the water, letting the waves wash over his legs as he watches Lance expertly ride the waves. 

Eventually, Lance tires of bodyboarding and abandons the board before swimming over to Keith.  “C’mon,” he says, extending a hand to the boy who is still sitting on the shore. 

“Maybe.”

Finding that an insufficient answer, Lance grabs Keith’s hand, yanking the other boy into the water (much to Keith’s surprise).  Lance laughs as Keith splutters, caught completely off guard.  Keith wipes the water out of his eyes before turning his attention to Lance.  Grinning, he tackles the Blue Paladin, bringing the other boy under water. 

They continue like that for a little bit, laughing and splashing in the water, before they tire and drag themselves up onto the shore.  Even though his hair is sticking up in random directions and his skin is covered in sand, Keith can’t help but find Lance beautiful.  With that thought in mind, Keith leans forward and kisses Lance again, but keeps it short, just a simple press of lips to lips. 

“So, how was it?”

Lance’s face lights up, his previous exhaustion gone.  “Keith, this is amazing!  This is the best thing that anyone has ever done for me.  Thank you so much.”

“Of course,” Keith answers, a soft smile on his face.  “It’s the least I could do in return for all you’ve done for me.”

“We’re gonna be back here every minute of our free time until Allura decides she wants this place cleaned up,” Lance tells Keith.  “It’s perfect.”

This time, Lance leans in, his eyes closing as he brings his mouth to Keith’s, true happiness in his heart at what the other boy did for him.

**Author's Note:**

> so this is my first Voltron fic! the idea just kinda popped into my head one day and I liked it enough that I figured I would share.
> 
> the title is ???????????? and might be changed I just needed one to be able to post it lmao
> 
> please please please let me know what you think! comments and kudos are most definitely 100% always appreciated :)


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